"In my opinion, the key principle which makes A.A. work where other plans have proved inadequate is the way of life it proposes based upon the belief of the individual in a Power greater than himself and the faith that this Power is all sufficient to destroy the obsession which possessed him and was destroying him mentally and physically.”

— Dr. Silkworth, 1945

"Alcoholics Anonymous in one hundred percent effective for those who faithfully follow the rules. It is those who try to cut corners who find themselves back in their old drunken state. ...THE A.A. PROGRAM is not a "cure," in the accepted sense of the word. There is no known "cure" for alcoholism except complete abstinence. It has been definitely proved that an alcoholic can never again be a normal drinker. The disease, however, can be arrested.
How soon you will be cured of a desire to drink is another matter. That depends entirely upon how quickly you can succeed in changing your fundamental outlook on life.
For as your outlook changes for the better, desire will become less pronounced, until it disappears almost entirely."

–"The Akron Manual" 1940

"This above all,
to thine own self be true."

— William Shakespeare

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

— Attributed to Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein

"No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character."  

— Ralph Waldo  Emerson

"The Four Absolutes are indispensable to working the full Program. We stress that the Absolutes are NOT CLAIMS OF ATTAINMENT. They are aims, levels to shoot for in daily conduct. When they are maintained faithfully as goals, they become powerful transformers of character and consciousness. ...'Yardsticks for Living;' it's an unemotional, un-preachy term about making these little decisions we have to make all day ling, between right and wrong, and putting what is right and true above what we want in every situation where there's a conflict. ...the ability to 'measure' what is the right way to live without ever taking ourselves too seriously. The result is not imprisonment, but enormous freedom. "

— Tom P, Jr, AAA Program

"One aspect of criminal thinking patterns stands out most because of its prevalence among noncriminal segments of the population. It is an attitude of ownership, or what can be referred to as a sense of entitlement. Inherent in this attitude is a cockiness that borders on blatant narcissism."

— M. Scott Peck, M.D.

"The challenge for all caught in the compulsive and obsessive behavior of addictions is to replace the seemingly pleasurable experiences that come from drinking, drugs, sexual pleasure, food or whatever the “drug of choice” is, with something more meaningful and lasting.
This is what a spiritual experience does. An inner transformation happens as a result of confronting our negative behavior and character defects and turning them over to God. Through continually working and living the process, self-will surrenders to God’s will. This is being “born again” in a very real way that addicts can appreciate."

— Tom Gilbert

"The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear."

— Socrates

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."

— Mahatma Gandhi

"It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis."

— Margaret Bonnano

"The only way to discover the limits of the possible Is to go beyond them into the impossible."

— Arthur C. Clark

"Choose as a guide one whom you will admire more when you see him act than when you hear him speak."

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

"...the Daily Good Turn is one of the finest features of our movement... So get yourself trained to meet any accident, any emergency. Then when the chance comes, you will be ready to do your part, ready to keep alive the tradition of Scout service."

— Boy Scout Handbook, 1961

"What is done to children,
they will do to society."

— Karl A. Menninger

"First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you."

— F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there."

— Will Rogers

"When eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the tree."

— Vietnamese saying

"Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you."

— Thomas Jefferson
practicing the steps | four absolutes | NEW Conference-Approved?
The items on this page have been gathered from various other sources. A collection and 'passing on' of wisdom, research, insight, observations, and experience...those who 'have gone before us.'
This page of collections relates to some of the more basic and/or 12-step info.
12-Step Recovery
The Ten Practical Points of Recovery
AA Text
1. "...thoroughly followed our path."
 p 58 line 2
2. "...completely give themselves..." p 58 line 3
3. "...developing...rigorous honesty." p 58 line 9
4. ...willing to go to any length..." p 58 line 18
5. "...fearless and thorough..." p 58 line 23
6. "...let go absolutely." p 58 line 25
7. "...asked His protection and care with complete abandon." p 59 line 5
8. "...the steps we took..." p 59 line 7
9. "Do not be discouraged." p 60 line 7
10. "...willing to grow along spiritual lines." p 60 line 10

"Alcoholics Anonymous began in 1935 at Akron, Ohio, as the outcome of a meeting between a well-known surgeon and a New York broker. Both were severe cases of alcoholism and were destined to become co-founders of the A.A. Fellowship."
[p 17, 12&12 Text]

Dr. Bob Smith & Bill Wilson
1879-1950 . . . . 1898-1971
Cofounders of Alcoholics Anonymous



12 Steps — The Principles That Make Our Recovery Possible [NA]
"The only way to keep from returning to active addiction is not to take that first drug. If you are like us you know that one is too many and a thousand never enough.... We are people with the disease of addiction who must abstain from all drugs in order to recover.... Our only hope is to live by the example of those who have faced our dilemma and have found a way out. ...we begin to feel like we finally belong somewhere. ...We learn to work the steps in the order that they are written and to use them on a daily basis. The steps are our solution. They are our survival kit. They are our defense against addiction which is a deadly disease. Our steps are the principles that make our recovery possible." [pp 18-19, NA Text]
Practicing the Steps
  • Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick.
  • The answers will come if your own house is in order.
  • But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got.
  • See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others.
  • Abandon yourself to God as you understand God.
  • Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows.
  • Clear away the wreckage of your past.
  • Give freely of what you find and join us."
    [p 164, AA Text]
"Many people, nonalcoholics, report that as a result of the practice of AA's Twelve Steps, they have been able to meet other difficulties of life. They think that the Twelve Steps can mean more than sobriety for problem drinkers. They see in them a way to happy and effective living for many, alcoholic or not." [p 16, 12&12 Text]
Four Absolutes or Four Standards
Borrowed from the Oxford Group as applied to the early AA Program
1. Absolute Honesty— [Over and over we must ask ourselves, "Is it true or is it false?" ]
2. Absolute Unselfishness— [we suggest you ask yourself over and over again in judging what you are about to do, say, think or decide, " How will this affect the other fellow?"]
3. Absolute Love— [A good question to ask ourselves on love might be, "Is it ugly or is it beautiful?"]
4. Absolute Purity— [...it is a simple case of answering the question, "Is right, or is it wrong?"]
"Answering these queries every day with absolute integrity, and following the dictates of those answers one day at a time, will surely lead us well on our journey toward absorbing and applying the Absolutes."
FOUR ABSOLUTES link at silkwork.net
What "Conference-Approved" Literature Means
COMPILED BY "BAREFOOT Bob H.," DOS 2-28-74 link to his site
Any AA may read anything any time anywhere for any purpose. There is no Tradition that says otherwise. There is no Tradition that can or should or will censor or "censure" what is presented at a meeting. And if someone thinks they've found the mythical tradition, tell them the Traditions are not laws, are not binding on anyone, and were never intended to prohibit free speech or freedom of religion or spiritual path by AAs or others.
From GSO Box 4-5-9 (Volume 23, No 4.1978):
"Any literature that pertains to the principles of AA or is approved by a GROUP CONSCIENCE - is perfectly acceptable to be read by any AA member or in an AA meeting."
...The term "Conference Approved literature" now replaces the 'Circle-Triangle Logo" to merely IDENTIFY (AAGV Vol. 50-7 1993) the books solely owned, copyrighted and published by AAWS and not as a predetermined list. The most definitive illustration of this is that the public domain first edition of the Big Book is NOT Conference Approved. The statement Conference Approved in no way constitutes a list of any written documents of which an AA body approves or disapproves... It does NOT mean the Conference disapproves of any other publications. What any A.A. member or group reads is no business of G.S.O., or of the Conference.
An A.A. who no longer follows the traditional A.A. program laid down by the good old-timers, will lose its heart and spirit, and its power to transform human lives and lift lost souls out of the miry pit where they had lain them down to die. The good old-timers took what they received from God and passed it on to us. We in turn must take their message and pass it on to the next generation of newcomers, or we will have failed to carry out the task which God assigned us.

The solution is simple: Start reading again the great early A.A. authors and early A.A. pamphlets, all the books published by GSO, and those published by the others listed above. Immerse yourselves in A.A.'s Historic Heritage. Sit at the feet of the masters who taught the great A.A. spiritual principles encompassing Sobriety and Recovery from the Disease of Alcoholism.
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Slogans / Cliches
Yea, go ahead and roll your eyes, some of these do get very tiresome, especially when they're spewed out by 12-step 'wonders.' But some are based in truths, so when the going gets a little tough, there may be one or two that fit your need just right. So read these, remember a few them, make signs around your home if needed.
REMINDER: Many of these are NOT 12-step program based; NOT found in specific progam literature; have come from treatment centers, rehabs, and mental health support groups. So please do not assume that all of these are okay to use in a specific 12-step meeting!
Live and Let Live
Easy Does It
But For the Grace of God
Think, Think, Think
First Things First
[Live Easy, But Think First]
Turn it over and let go
I came; I came to; I came to believe (steps 1,2,3)
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff
Just For Today
Keep an Open Mind
It Works if You Live It
Keep coming' back, it works if you work it.
Stick with the winners.
Life is a journey, not a destination,
If God seems far away, who moved?
We are only as sick as our secrets.
There are no coincidences here.
Be part of the solution, not the problem.
I can't handle it, God; you take over.
Pass it on
Keep It Simple
This Too Shall Pass.
Expect Miracles.
Let Go and Let God
Let It Begin With Me
Listen and Learn
One Day at a Time
To thine own self be true
Keep Coming Back
Pain is the touchstone of spiritual growth.
PROGRESS IS MADE ONE DAY AT A TIME
Use that 90-lb. telephone.
Get off the "pity pot."
PRACTICE RIGOROUS HONESTY
Gratitude is in the attitude.
You are not alone.
Take the message, not the mess
To keep it, you have to give it away.
Use the 24-hour plan.
The 12 steps tell us how it works
The elevator is broken: use the Steps.
HOW = Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness.
Willingness is the key to open the door.
Don't quit 5 minutes before the miracle happens.
Call your sponsor before, not after, you take the first drink.
Sick and tired of being sick and tired.
We have no mental defense against the first drink.
Live in the NOW
There are no "victims," only volunteers.
Change the thought, and the feeling must go
God is never late.
When a person tries to control their drinking they have already lost control.
Feelings are not facts.
G.O.D. = "Good Orderly Direction"
G.O.D. = "Great OutDoors
EGO = Edging God Out
FEAR=Face Everything and Recover
FEAR= F--- Everything and Run
FEAR = Frustration, Ego, Anxiety, Resentment
HALT = Don't get too Hungry, too Angry, too Lonely, too Tired
FINE = F--'d-up, Insecure, Neurotic, Emotional
KISS - Keep it Simple, Silly
PLOM = Poor Little Old Me
7 days without a meeting makes 1 weak.
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It's the first drink that gets you drunk.
Decisions don't have to be forever.
Don't place conditions on your sobriety.
Faith is spelled a-c-t-i-o-n.
When your head begins to swell your mind stops growing.
Don't compare---identify.
Don't intellectualize---utilize.
If you do what you have always done you will get what you have always gotten.
Let go of old ideas.
Keep your side of the street clean
When the student is ready, the teacher appears.
Do the footwork and leave the outcome to God.
Easy does it, but DO it.
Change is a process, not an event.
Where you go, there you are.
Stay sober for yourself.
Look for similarities rather than differences.
What you think of me is none of my business.
The first step is the only step a person can work perfectly.
Think right thoughts and the body will follow.
Fear is the darkroom where negatives are developed.
Before engaging your mouth, put your mind in gear.
The first step in overcoming mistakes is to admit them.
Formula for failure: try to please everyone.
You alone can do it, but you can't do it alone.
Relax: God's in charge
12 Steps in 4 Sessions (early AA)
Trying to pray IS praying.
Your Big Book is your sponsor too.
Be willing to go to ANY length to stay sober.
What you hear and see here, stays here.
Principles before personalities
In AA we don't carry the alcoholic; we carry the message.
Try THE Program for 90 days, and if you don't like it, we'll gladly refund your misery.
Minds are like parachutes----they won't work unless they're open
Wallowing in self pity? Get off the cross, we need the wood!
Serenity is not freedom from the storm but peace amid the storm.
Be careful what you pray for; you're liable to get it.
Stick with the Winners and Win with the Stickers.
We're not human beings having spiritual experiences,we're spiritual beings having human experiences.
Suit up and show up.
Ask God what the next right thing is--and then do it.
First we stayed sober because we have to...then we stay sober because we are willing to...then we stay sober because we want to.
If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.
When you do all the talking you only learn what you already know.
Just sober up a horse thief, all you have is a sober horse thief
The road to resentment is paved with expectation.
The only thing we take from this world when we leave is what we gave away.
Walk your talk
Faith is a lit doorway--doubt is a dark hall
Prayer changes things
Right living creates right thoughts.
Danger sign: when your eyes wander from the alcoholics who still suffers and needs help, to the faults of those whom the program has already helped.
Some NAs are so successful that they turn out to be almost as good as they used to think they were when they were drinking!




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Views On Sponsorship
We need the 12 steps of recovery to make a change in our lives, and we cannot do it alone. "The role of the sponsor is one of providing the newcomer's introduction to AA, the textbook, and the 12 Step program." A Sponsor will work with a 'prospect' to keep his/her own sobriety and because newcomers need guidance—their thinking will be muddled and simplistic for a couple years or so.
  • A sponsor's primary responsibility is to help a sponsee learn about and work through the Twelve Steps. He/she is NOT a therapist, is NOT responsible for your recovery, or control and dictate your life, or take advantage of you in any way. He/she should not encourage dependance, is NOT your doctor, and is NOT a god.
  • In the AA 12&12, the sponsor is described as a friend or advisor who helps the new member work through the steps after he has come into AA. The on-going role of the sponsor is one of encouraging the member's growth beyond physical recovery. The sponsor's main role is to take the AA member through the principles of the Steps AND Traditions. 
  • The AA text, p 63, suggests seeking guidance and using outside help [an understanding person, such as spouse, best friend or spiritual advisor--or even a therapist] for taking the fifth. After all, we do have trust issues in these fellowships!
  • Some oldsters suggest using your home group as sponsors after the initial relationship with a sponsor when you have learned the basics about living the steps and have daily concious contact with God/HP. Many people have outside mentors for specific areas of life: spiritual guidance, a therapist, life in the community, on-the-job skills, parenting skills, the corporate life, etc."When the student is ready, the teacher appears."
  • Sponsorship-related words from Roget's Thesaurus:
    support, tutelage, guidance, assistance, advocate, to lift or boost, demonstrate, stand by, confidant, endorser, a helping hand, role-model, a friend in court, upholder, bolster up, sustainer, backer, encourager, coaching, help along, show the ropes, stand for, reinforcement, teammate

"Every sponsor is necessarily a leader. The stakes are huge. A human life, and usually the happiness of a whole family, hangs in the balance. What the sponsor does and says, how well he estimates the reactions of his prospects, how well he times and makes his presentation, how well he handles criticisms, and how well he leads his prospect on by personal spiritual example -- well, these attributes of leadership can make all the difference, often the difference between life and death." - Bill W
[p 55, NA Text]
"We have found it helpful to have a sponsor and to use this sponsor. Sponsorship is a two-way street. It helps both the newcomer and sponsor. ...Sponsorship for newcomers is also the responsibility of the group. It is implied and informal in its approach, but it is the heart of the N.A. way of recovery from addiction — one addict helping another."
from stepstudy. org: "A sponsor who follows the Conversion Experience View of recovery will guide their sponsees through the Steps.  Sometimes, this will be the end of the sponor/sponsee relationship, because after the sponsee has completed his or her Steps, it is time for both sponsor and sponsee to move on and sponsor someone else." 
If you have "conceded to your innermost self" and have an honest desire for abstinence and a new way of living, ask someone who reads from, and understands the text (of the appropriate program). This involves instruction, structure, camaraderie, and a sense of belonging.
Some people prefer to continue with temporary sponsors and using inside AND outside mentors for specific areas of needed growth—they are uncomfortable with sponsor hierarchies. (This method is almost considered heresy and sacrilege by AA/NA new traditionalists!) But finding this ONE person inside the fellowship who is knowledgable, mature, trustworthy, and walks their talk can be a formidable task.
"A big challenge to the traditional sponsorship system and to AA as a whole occurred as a result the boom of Treatment and Rehab Centers. Recovery centers (and the justice system) began dumping 30, 60, and 90 day sober alcoholics and non-alcoholic addicts into AA. Large numbers of newcomers were showing up who were physically recovered, on medication, feeling good about themselves, and knew it all (90-day wonders). This removed one of the most effective tools AA/NA had in working with a newcomer—that feeling of hopelessness and a desire to do whatever it takes to get over it. Many of these newcomers had worked a variation of the first few steps with counselors and arrived at meetings with the feeling that they had already done the steps or they had acquired many non-AA therapies mixed with the Twelve Steps and brought this into the program..."
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Relapse
Twenty Steps to a Slip — Know Your Danger Signals!
  1. Depend on meetings to stay sober instead of meditation and practicing the Steps.
  2. Start missing meetings (especially your home group) for any reason, real or imaginary.
  3. Become overly-critical of the methods used by other members who may not agree with you in everything.
  4. Nurse the idea that someday, somehow, you can drink or drug again in a controlled manner.
  5. In meetings, you keep dumping your MESS instead of carring the life-saving MESSAGE of the steps.
  6. You regularly reminisce about "the good old days."
  7. You go to meetings to socialize or find a date instead of hearing or carrying the 12-step message.
  8. Let the others do the 12th step work in your group. You are too busy.
  9. You instruct others based on "your" program and opinions instead of on THE program and what works.
  10. You resent "book thumpers" because you no longer read the textbook or care what it says.
  11. You resent anyone talking in a meeting about "GOD." (if so, you should consider attending secular meetings)
  12. You forgot the 12 steps are all about finding a power greater than yourself to achieve a spiritual awakening.
  13. You are involved in a clique within your own group(s), composed of members who agree with your program interpretations.
  14. Tell the new member in confidence that you yourself do not not take certain of the 12 Steps seriously.
  15. Let your mind dwell more and more on how much you are helping others rather than on how much the program is helping you.
  16. If a member relapses, drop him at once.
  17. You settle into being a "two-stepping wonder."
  18. Cultivate the habit of borrowing money from other members, then stay away from meetings to avoid embarrassment.
  19. Look on the 24-hour plan (of daily spiritual maintenance) as a vital thing for new members, but not for yourself. You have outgrown the need of that a long time ago.
  20. After years of attending meetings, you are still proud to consider yourself a 'sick' alcoholic, rather than believing that god has restored you to sanity.
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The Three Legacies of AA [from AA Comes of Age]

RECOVERY
We recover from alcoholism... God has delivered us out of our bondage... a new light was shining into the dark world of the alcoholic.... a benign chain reaction, one alcoholic carrying the good news to the next... we have found freedom from our fatal obsession.

UNITY
We stay together in unity. "Ours is not the usual success story; rather it is the story of how, under God's grace, an unsuspected strength has arisen out of great weakness; of how, under threats of disunity and collapse, world-wide unity and brotherhood have been forged. In the course of this experience we have evolved a set of traditional principles by which we live and work together and relate ourselves as a fellowship to the world around us. These principles are called the Twelve Traditions of AA. They represent the distilled experience of our past, and we rely on them to carry us in unity through the challenges and dangers which the future may bring." [p 79]
SERVICE
Our society functions and serves its primary purpose of carrying the AA message to all who need it and want it. AA's 12th Step is the basic service that our fellowship gives; it is our principle aim and the main reason for our existence. An AA service is anything whatever that legitimately helps us to reach fellow sufferers...transportation, meeting places, coffee..hospital and institution cooperation... intergroup...pamphlets and books... committees, conferences... member financial contributions. If a service is essential, we maintain it or we fail in our mission...
From the "12 and 12" Forward:
Page 15: A.A.'s Twelve Steps are a group of principles, spiritual in their nature, which, if practiced as a way of life, can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to become happily and usefully whole.
A.A.'s Twelve Traditions apply to the life of the Fellowship itself. They outline the means by which A.A. maintains its unity and relates itself to the world about it, the way it lives and grows.

Page 17: The book "Alcoholics Anonymous" became the basic text of the Fellowship, and it still is. This present volume proposes to broaden and deepen the understanding of the Twelve Steps aws first written in the earlier work.

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